1. Politics of Education Chapter 2
1.1. Purposes of Education
1.1.1. 1. intellectual purposes of schooling: to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and math; to obtain learning objectives in different subjects; and to help students gain higher-order thinking skills
1.1.2. 2. political purposes of schooling: to teach children about patriotism, to teach children who will participate in political order, to expose students to other cultures/backgrounds and teach them how to work together, and to teach children the basic laws of society
1.1.3. 3. social purposes of schooling: to help solve social problems, to work as one, and to ensure social cohesion as well as socialize children into various roles, behaviors, and values of a society; socialization
1.1.4. 4. economic purposes of education: to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to train, select, and allocate individuals into the division of labor
1.2. Perspective
1.2.1. 1. Role of the School
1.2.1.1. The conservative perspective sees the role of the school centers around encouraging those who succeed in school to continue their success. They also believe that schools prepare children for their adults roles. The role of the school is essential for economic productivity and social stability.
1.2.2. 2. Explanations of Unequal Performance
1.2.2.1. The conservative perspective sees that individuals or groups of students determine for themselves whether they will succeed or not and that success is determined by hard work and sacrifice. Therefore, the school system is created to allow the opportunity to succeed. If they do not succeed, then it is because of a deficiency of that individual, not the school system.
1.2.3. 3. Definition of Educational Problems
1.2.3.1. The conservative perspective argues that the decline of standards reduced the quality of education. They argue that decline of cultural literacy
2. History of U.S. Education Chapter 3
2.1. Reform Movement
2.1.1. Education for Women and African Americans
2.1.1.1. 1. Women
2.1.1.1.1. By the middle of the 19th century, girls were attending elementary schools; some were admitted to private academies (secondary schools).
2.1.1.1.2. In 1821, Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary which delivered an education that was similar to the education males received.
2.1.1.1.3. In 1837, Mary Lyon founded Mount Holyoke Seminary; requirements for entry to this school were the same for women as for men at male institutes with the exception of a foreign language.
2.1.1.1.4. In 1833, Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio began to accept women and African Americans. In 1856, the University of Iowa became the first state university to allow women to attend.
2.1.1.2. 2. African Americans
2.1.1.2.1. In Roberts v. City of Boston, it was ruled that local school committees had the right to decide to separate educational facilities for whites and blacks. Due to this, African Americans began to establish their own schools with help from the churches and abolitionists.
2.1.1.2.2. In 1863, during the civil war, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued which ended slavery. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed which freed slaves. Then, in 1868, full citizenship was given to ex-slaves with the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment.
2.1.1.2.3. In 1868, black colleges were established with the help of the Freedman's Bureau.
2.2. Historical Interpretation
2.2.1. Conservative Perspective
2.2.1.1. 1. Conservative critics argue that all claim that the failure to of "progressive education" to fulfill the lofty social goals without sacrificing academic quality is why U.S. students knew very little and why the schools were mediocre.
2.2.1.2. 2. Critics like Ravitch and Hirsch believe that the historical pursuit of social and political objectives resulted in significant harm to the traditional academic goals of schooling
2.2.1.3. 3. Ravitch also argues in her series titled "The Troubled Crusade" that the preoccupation with using education to solve social problems has not solved these problems, and simultaneously, has led to the erosion of education. She also argues that because of the common culture schools teach, their is little knowledge on Western culture which is what Conservatives believe is the heritage of our civilization. Conservative critics all agree that the evolution of U.S. education has led to the decline of academic success.
3. Sociological Perspectives Chapter 4
3.1. Theoretical Perspectives
3.1.1. Functionalism
3.1.1.1. Functionalism is how well the parts are integrated with each other Functionalists view society as a machine, each part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society learned.
3.1.1.2. Emile Durkheim is considered the earliest sociologist to take a functional view point on the relationship between schools and society. He believed that education was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony. He also believed moral values were the foundation of society.
3.1.1.3. Functionalists assume that consensus is the normal state in society and conflict represents a break down of shared values.
3.1.2. Conflict Theory
3.1.2.1. Conflict sociologists believe that social order is not based on some collective agreement, but on the ability of more dominant groups to force their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation. They believe that economic, political, cultural, and military power are what hold society together. Conflict sociologists emphasize struggle.
3.1.2.2. Karl Marx is considered the founder of conflict theory in the sociology of education. He believed that the class system made class struggle inevitable. Bowles and Gintis believed there is a direct correspondence between the organization of schools and the organization of society, and until society changes, there is not much hope for school reform.
3.1.2.2.1. Max Weber, who based his ideas on Marx, believed that the power relations between dominant and subordinate groups structured societies, but class differences alone could not capture the complex ways human beings form hierarchies.
3.1.3. Interactionalism
3.1.3.1. Interactionalism focuses on concrete ideas and analyze the interactions between students and faculty.
3.1.3.2. Basil Bernstein argues that structural aspects and interactional aspects of the school system must be seen as a whole. He also argues that students from working-class backgrounds are disadvantaged in the school setting because schools are made up of middle-class organizations.
3.2. Effects of Schooling
3.2.1. 1. Employment
3.2.1.1. In 1986, 54% of 8 million college graduates in the U.S. entered professional and technical jobs.
3.2.1.2. Studies have been conducted and the results have shown that the amount of education barely relates to job performance. Schools act as gatekeepers for who will get employed in high status occupations but do not provide significant job skills to graduates.
3.2.1.3. In 2011, high school graduates earned on average $32,522 while college graduates earned about $53,976.
3.2.2. 2.Teacher Behavior
3.2.2.1. Teachers are models for students, set standards, and influence student self-esteem and sense of efficacy. Rosenthal and Jacobson found that teacher's expectations directly influenced student achievement. Persell found that when teachers demanded more from their students and praised them more, students learned more and felt better about themselves.
3.2.3. 3. Student Peer Group and Alienation
3.2.3.1. Stinchcombe found that students in vocational programs and headed toward low status jobs were the students most likely to join a rebellious subculture.
3.2.3.2. In college there are 4 major groups: careerists (middle to upper class families, not intellectually motivated), Intellectuals (higher education families, politically involved, earned many honors), strivers( working class families, minorities, worked hard, graduated with sense of accomplishment), unconnected (all backgrounds, least satisfied). Student cultures play an important role in shaping students' educational experiences.
3.2.4. 4. Inadequate Schoools
3.2.4.1. Students who attend urban schools do not receive good education. Students who attend suburban schools and private schools get a better educational experience than other students. Students who attend elite private schools get the best education and social status of their diploma.
3.2.5. 5. Gender
3.2.5.1. Textbooks have been biased against women by ignoring their success. Schools are active organizational agents in recreating gender inequalities.
4. Philosophy of Education Chapter 5
4.1. Pragmatism
4.1.1. Generic Notions
4.1.1.1. Dewey's form of pragmatism was founded on the new psychology, behaviorism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. This was an attainment of a better society through education where schools would be an "embryonic community" where children could learn skills both experimentally as well as from books. His idea about education was seen as progressive and proposed that educators start with the needs and interests of the child in the classroom, allow the child to participate in planning his/her course of study, employ learning method, and heavily on experimental learning. Children were active, organic beings, growing and changing is what Dewey rested his notion on.
4.1.2. Key Researchers
4.1.2.1. Key researchers for Pragmatism included George Sanders Pierce, William James, and most importantly John Dewey. European philosophers who could be classified as pragmatists include Frances Bacon, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
4.1.3. Goal of Education
4.1.3.1. Dewey believed that school should function as preparation for life in a democratic society. Dewey's philosophy of education made a conscious attempt to balance the social role of the school with its effects on the social, intellectual, and personal development of individuals. Dewey and Durkheim believed that schools had to play a key role in creating a modern form of cohesion by socializing diverse groups into a cohesive democratic community.
4.1.4. Role of Teacher
4.1.4.1. In pragmatism, the teacher is no longer an authority figure, but rather, encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
4.1.5. Method of Instruction
4.1.5.1. Dewey suggests that children learn both individually and in groups. He suggests that students use the problem-solving method by asking questions about what they want to know. Furniture is discarded so there is room for groups. Children could talk quietly with one another, had the freedom to stand up and stretch, and could pursue independent study or group work. This method is nontraditional, but individualizes learning for each student.
4.1.6. Curriculum
4.1.6.1. Progressive schools generally follow Dewey's notion of a core curriculum(integrated curriculum). Progressive educators support starting with contemporary problems and working from the known to the unknown. They are also not committed to a fixed curriculum; the curriculum can change as the child's interests and needs change. Dewey thought that an integrated curriculum provided the most effective means of a balance between traditional disciplines and the needs/interests of the child.
5. Schools as Organizations Chapter 6
5.1. 5th District Madison, AL Major Stakeholders
5.1.1. Federal Senators: Richard Shelby, Luther Strange
5.1.2. Federal House of Representatives : Mo Brooks
5.1.3. State Senator: Richard Shelby
5.1.4. State House of Representatives: Danny Crawford
5.1.5. State Superintendent: Dr. Ed Richardson
5.1.6. Representative on State School Board: Ella B. Bell
5.1.7. Local Superintendent: Robby Parker
5.1.8. Members on local school board: Ranae Bartlett, Tim Holtcamp, Connie Spears, Luis Ferrer
5.2. School Cultures
5.2.1. Changing culture requires: patience, skill, good will, time, effort, and intelligence
5.3. School Processes
5.3.1. School Processes are difficult to define; planned change is possible but requires new ways of thinking
5.4. Four elements of change: Conflict (new and old), new behaviors ( building communication and trust), Team building ( shared decision making), Processes and Content are interrelated ( process is just as important as content)
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy Chapter 7
6.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.1.1. focuses on the needs/interests of the student rather than of society; came from Dewey and Piaget; relationship between child and curriculum and process of teaching as well as its content; student centered; relating curriculum to needs and interests of child; flexibility in how/when content taught with emphasis on student's capabilities
6.2. 2 Dominant Traditions of Teacher
6.2.1. The Mimetic
6.2.1.1. based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students; didactic method - lecture/presentation as the main form of communication
6.2.2. The Transformative
6.2.2.1. purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way ( intellectually, creatively, spiritually, emotionally); do not see the transmission of knowledge as the only component of education and thus they provide a multidimensional theory of teaching
7. Equality of Opportunity Chapter 8
7.1. Impact Educational Outcomes
7.1.1. Class - education is extremely expensive, longer the student stays in school the more support they need, favors wealthier families, number of books in family household is related to academic achievement in children, direct correlation on parental income and child achievement on achievement tests
7.1.2. Race - a persons race has a direct impact on how much education he is likely to achieve, minorities do not receive the same educational opportunities as whites
7.1.3. Gender - today, females are less likely to drop out of school than males and are more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency, males do better than females in math; in the last 20 years gender differences between men and women in terms of educational attainment
7.2. The Coleman Study 1982
7.2.1. Responses to Coleman: Round Two
7.2.1.1. Studies have compared public and private schools have also found that private schools seem to "do it better" especially in regard to low income students. Catholic schools seem to advantage low income minority students (urban areas) but have been more elite and like suburban public schools.
7.2.1.2. Baker and Riordan argued that Catholic schools in the 1990s have become more elite and that they are modern common schools. Greeley argues that they ignore the past two decades of research.
7.2.2. Responses to Coleman: Coleman Round Three
7.2.2.1. Borman and Dowling argue that he location an individual attends school is related to her race/socioeconomic background, but racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a greater effect on student achievement than an individual's race or class. Race and class are predictors of academic success The study concludes that education reform must focus on eliminating the high level of segregation that is in the U.S.' education system and tracking/ biases that favor white/middle class must end.
8. Educational Inequality Chapter 9
8.1. Cultural Differences Theory
8.1.1. Researchers such as John Ogbu argue that African-American children do less well in school because they adapt to their oppressed position in the class and caste structure
8.1.1.1. Ogbu's macrosociological perspective is similar to those of Bowles and Gintis whos correspondence theory suggests that working-class students adapt to the unequal aspects of the class structure, and to Bourdieu and Passeron and Bernstein whose theories point out the ways in which class and cultural differences are reflected in the school
8.1.1.2. Bourdieu's concept of social and cultural capital are also important in understanding how cultural differences affect educational inequality; recognizes that economic capital (income and wealth) is before all else -- provides educational advantage
8.2. School-centered explanations for educational inequality
8.2.1. 1. School Financing- more affluent communities are able to provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts
8.2.2. 2. Effective School Research - Coleman and Jencks -- within-school differences are as or more significant than between-school differences raised questions about the common-sense argument that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds do poorly simply because they attend inferior schools
8.2.3. 3. Between- school differences - schools with working class neighborhoods are far more likely to have authoritarian and teacher directed pedagogic practices and to have social efficiency curriculum at the secondary level
8.2.4. 4. Within-school differences - different groups of students perform differently in the same school, there may be school characteristics that affect this; Shanker stated that education in the U.S. assumes that students in the lower tracks are not capable of doing academic work and thus schools do not offer them an academically challenging curriculum; concerns of tracking is emotional and ideological-- tracking has a significant effect on educational attainment
9. Educational Reform Chapter 10
9.1. School based reforms
9.1.1. Charter Schools
9.1.1.1. They are public schools that are free from many of the regulations applied to traditional public schools. They are held accountable for student performance since they are free of the regulations. "Charter" is a performance contract; it is a formal, legal document between those who establish/run the school and those authorize and monitor the school.
9.1.2. Tuition Vouchers
9.1.2.1. Voucher advocates argue that school choice will lead to (1) providing low income parents with the same choices as middle class parents and lead to parental satisfaction in their child's school, (2) charter and voucher schools will provide better learning environments for low income students and result in higher achievement, and (3) urban public schools will be forced to improve or shut down. Voucher programs claim to increase student achievement, empower low-income families, increase parental satisfaction, improve public education, and offer a cost effective means for financing school.
9.2. Societal, Community, Economic, and Political Reforms
9.2.1. Mayoral Control of Urban Districts
9.2.1.1. They believe that centralizing governance into the mayor's office is more effective and efficient than traditional elective school boards. It has been implemented over the past decade. Critics argue that there has been no significant increase in achievement, it is not democratic, and it has reduced community/parental involvement.
9.2.2. Harlem Children's Zone
9.2.2.1. Geoffrey Canada wanted to ensure that African-American children were prepared for the academic and social challenges they will face after they leave an all black community. He wanted to leave children where they were and change their neighborhood (while changing them at the same time) instead of moving them to a whole new place. Canada provides programs for parents in Harlem before their children are even born to prepare them for how to care for the fetus and infant the way middle class parents would ("Baby College").